


Mistletoe and Moments

by bettycooperthefirst



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-15 05:29:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16927347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bettycooperthefirst/pseuds/bettycooperthefirst
Summary: The nostalgia of holiday traditions has Betty remembering her childhood, specifically the boy she used to call her best friend. After graduating from college, she is starting to realize that some of the choices she made back then may have affected her life now. Can the ghosts from her past make their way to the future? Or is her present exactly the way it was meant to be?





	1. Mistletoe

On the night of the Mistletoe Masquerade Ball, Betty Cooper stood in her mirror and surveyed her reflection. The dark green dress that she had chosen complimented her eyes, where she had put some soft silver shimmer. The beads on the drop shoulder sleeves sparkled in certain lights when she moved her arms, matching the deep green sequined mask that she’d gotten from a vintage boutique one town over.

 

She smiled at herself, double checking that there weren’t any stray hairs acting out among her soft waves. Six months out of college, she was enjoying the nostalgia of getting ready in her childhood bedroom. Despite her own apartment being just a half an hour away, it was tradition to stay at her mothers house on the night of the ball. This year, Alice had been a part of the decorating committee, so she was already at the old mansion where the ball was always held. Thornhill was on the outskirts of town, a house from old money that had long been vacated by its only remaining predecessors.

 

 ** _For 15 years now,_ **Betty thought. **_The 15th Annual Mistletoe Masquerade Ball._**

 

Betty had been attending the ball since she was 9 years old. She used to go with her childhood best friend, every year until they hit high school and drifted apart. As she left her old house and locked the door behind her, she heard a motorcycle come around the corner and pull into the driveway next door. 

 

 ** _Speak of the devil._** She stood on the porch for a moment as Jughead Jones took his helmet off and got off the bike to walk up to the house. It was the Andrews house, home of Fred and Archie Andrews, where Jughead had lived most of his life after his parents abandoned him. When he’d shown up at age 4, Betty was struggling in preschool to find friends. Somehow, this boy with the leather jacket was the same boy who had picked her up off the playground when the girls in her class had pushed her down. Back then, he’d sat with her and picked the rocks out of their indentations in her skin, and that was all it took for them to become inseparable.  Now, She took in his leather jacket, Southside Serpents emblazoned on the back. A boy she hadn’t talked to in over 4 years. And before that even- 

 

They hadn’t been inseparable after all.

 

Sometime after Betty had drifted from Jughead, he’d leaned more heavily into the world of his family’s side of town. Archie was 4 years older than them, so he was off at college at that point, leaving Jughead to his own devices. He still wore the ratty beanie that he’d had since they were kids, but otherwise looked like a completely different person than the boy who she’d spent so many days with as a child. Time happens, she thought. She was grown up now, no longer forcing Jughead to play with Barbies on her bedroom floor. And he was grown up too, no longer the boy she’d shared her first kiss with on her backyard swingset when they were 12. 

 

 ** _That was 10 years ago,_** Betty realized. Cheryl Blossom, the most popular girl at Riverdale Middle School, had gotten her first kiss from Reggie Mantle, and was going around school making it clear that anyone who hadn’t been kissed hadn’t lived. She’d started calling out people across their grade for liking each other, and Betty and Jughead had been her #1 target.

 

**_A boy and a girl being best friends in middle school? Unacceptable. We’re older now. There are rules and boundaries._ **

 

So Cheryl had started a rumor, which was widely accepted, that Betty and Jughead were secretly in love with each other. After school, Betty had walked out to her swing set and sat down, her signal to Jughead for when she wanted to talk. He’d shown up and sat on the swing next to her a few minutes later. Sitting on the swing set that day after school, Betty had brought it up with disdain. 

 

> _“I’m not in love with you.” she'd announced, tracing a B on the grass with her right foot._
> 
>  
> 
> _“I’m not in love with you either.” His mouth formed a sneaky grin, as it always did before he did something annoying. He annoyed Betty a lot those days. “But are you sure? I’m pretty charming.”_
> 
>  
> 
> _“Shut up Jug.” She responded with an eye roll. “If I loved you, would I do this?” She swung sideways and punched him in the arm._
> 
>  
> 
> _“If I loved you, would I do it back?” He said, repeating her movement, but hitting her lighter than she’d hit him._
> 
>  
> 
> _“Probably." She shrugged. "Boys usually pick on girls when they like them.”_
> 
>  
> 
> _Jughead didn't answer, just looked away from Betty and up at the blue sky above them._
> 
>  
> 
> _But Betty wasn't done with the conversation. “Maybe Cheryl’s right though.”_
> 
>  
> 
> _“About what?” He focused his attention back on Betty._
> 
>  
> 
> _“The whole first kiss thing. Everyone makes a big deal out of it, but it’s kind of just this hurdle you have to get over before you can move on with your life.”_
> 
>  
> 
> _Jughead raised his eyebrow. “True.”_
> 
>  
> 
> _“And I don’t want to kiss any of the boys in our class. Frankly, they disgust me.”_
> 
>  
> 
> _He gave her a lopsided smile. “They disgust me too.”_
> 
>  
> 
> _“Maybe we should just kiss each other and get it out of the way.”_
> 
>  
> 
> _He was silent for a moment, and she briefly worried that she’d said something wrong._
> 
>  
> 
> _“Okay.”_
> 
>  
> 
> _She got up off her swing._
> 
>  
> 
> _“Now?” He tugged at a triangle on his crown beanie, like he always did when he was nervous._
> 
>  
> 
> _“Sure why not? It’s not like it means anything.”_
> 
>  

Now, Jughead was in front of her wearing that same crown beanie, the one he’d worn his entire life. Betty was dressed up, ready for a ball, and he didn’t look over to see her in the darkness. She felt loneliness creep in, the way she had many times since college ended. She looked like she was going somewhere important, dressed like someone important. But she really had no idea what she was doing. Judging by Jughead’s leather jacket and ratty old beanie, neither did he.

 

Betty watched Jughead open the door to the Andrews house and shivered, thinking how much time can do. It reminded her of a quote from their favorite movie as kids, Fox and the Hound. 

 

_Forever is a long time and time has a way of changing things._

 

* * * * *

 

Betty arrived at the ball and searched the room for her friends. She saw the telltale sign of red hair flash across the ballroom. She still couldn’t believe that Thornhill had a ballroom in the first place. She crossed the room to the last remaining heir of Thornhill Manor, who’s mother had given up the property to the city years ago. 

 

The head of red hair turned around and the girl it belonged to smiled at her. 

 

“Betty!” 

 

Betty smiled back at her. “Cheryl!”

 

The same girl who had started the ridiculous rumor about Betty and Jughead all the way back in 6th grade. Sometimes thinking about how much things had changed since then gave Betty an out of body experience. She felt like she could see Cheryl leaning in to hug her from above, like she was a spirit watching it all happen instead of the person receiving it. Like this wasn't supposed to be her life.

 

When Betty was a freshman in high school, her world had taken a dramatic shift. It was over the summer before that she’d finally grown into all her body parts, really started needing a bra, and started thinking more seriously about boys. Other than Jughead, of course. 

 

On the first day of school, she’d been looking around the cafeteria for her best friend when she’d heard her name.

 

> _“Betty Cooper.”_
> 
>  
> 
> _She turned to see Cheryl Blossom, flanked by Josie Mccoy and Veronica Lodge, looking perfectly put together as per-usual, but, not as usual, she was actually talking to Betty. This threw her off, and it took her a second too long to respond._
> 
>  
> 
> _“Yes?”_
> 
>  
> 
> _To this day, Betty didn’t know what made Cheryl do it. **Was it her emergence at the end of puberty? Was it the way she’d worn her hair down at school that day, deciding to try something different from her usual daily ponytail? Was it simply that it was one of the only times she had ever not had Jughead at her side, so Cheryl jumped at the chance to mess with that?**_
> 
>  
> 
> _All Betty really knew for sure was what Cheryl had said next._
> 
> _“Come sit with us.”_
> 
>  
> 
> _Betty had taken a final glance around the room and helplessly followed Cheryl to a table, unsure of what was going to happen next. As they sat down, Reggie Mantle passed by the table and smiled in Betty’s direction. “Damn Cooper. Lookin good.”_
> 
>  
> 
> _“Find your dignity Reggie.” Cheryl snapped. But then, Reggie Mantle, the most popular boy Betty had ever known, sat down at their table._
> 
>  
> 
> _Veronica sat next to Betty and gave her a sincere smile. “So Betty, how are you liking high school so far?”_
> 
>  
> 
> _“It’s okay, I just-“_
> 
>  
> 
> _“Oh my god.” Cheryl interrupted. “Look.”_
> 
>  
> 
> _Betty followed her eyes to see Jughead entering the cafeteria._
> 
>  
> 
> _“He still wears that stupid beanie. What a loser. Did you used to be friends with him?”_
> 
>  
> 
> _As she was saying this, Jughead found Betty in the crowd and lifted a hand in a wave. He was trying to call her over, but his hand faltered for a moment when he saw where she was sitting._
> 
>  
> 
> _“Is he waving at you?” Reggie looked confused._
> 
>  
> 
> _Jughead took a few steps closer._
> 
>  
> 
> _“Holy shit. Are you still friends with that weirdo?”_
> 
>  
> 
> _Betty saw a cringe on Jughead's face. He was in ear shot now, she realized. Betty looked at Cheryl, then at Reggie. She looked back to Jughead, who was still standing awkwardly in the middle of the lunch room, waiting on her._
> 
>  
> 
> _For months after starting high school, she’d replayed this moment over and over in her head._
> 
>  
> 
> **_He’s not a weirdo. He’s my best friend._ **
> 
>  
> 
> _**He’s not a loser. He’s way cooler than you’ll ever be.**  _
> 
>  
> 
> _“No, of course not. He’s way too weird. Have you ever even seen him without that stupid hat on?”_
> 
>  
> 
> _Jughead's face had fallen. He immediately turned and walked away. Betty had chosen her path._
> 
>  
> 
> _Looking at Cheryl now, Betty couldn’t help but wonder how differently her life might have gone if she’d found Jughead one minute sooner that day._
> 
>  
> 
> **_You’ll never know._ **
> 
>  

Now, things had changed, but somehow were exactly the same. Seeing Jughead had made Betty start thinking deeply about her past. About which moment changed the trajectory of her life. It seemed like at some point she had boarded the Titanic, destined to sink, and now she was floating alone in a lifeboat, unsure of where to go next.

 

* * * * *

 

As the ball picked up pace, Betty made a trip to the punch bowl to fill her empty cup. She’d already downed a glass of the spiked punch between dancing with her friends and catching up with people she hadn’t seen since this time last year. Reggie Mantle had shown up for the party. Despite having been Betty’s first boyfriend, he was pretty boring to talk to, and she’d escaped that conversation with the excuse of wanting more to drink. She knew he wasn’t gentleman enough to offer to get it for her. 

 

Josie was performing, Cheryl was MIA and Veronica was dancing with a red headed mystery man who Betty couldn’t identify. 

 

Crossing the floor, she tried to figure out who was behind the masks surrounding her. An elaborate peacock mask, a leopard in a black dress, plenty of red and green variations that honored the holiday. Her eyes lingered on the leopard before she decided to cut out the back door onto the cold back patio. She needed some air, away from everyone else. It was cold, a bit of a shock to her system, and in a split second, she felt her feet give out beneath her. She could tell she was going to hit the ground as she jolted backwards, but before she could break her back, someone caught her. Easily, with one arm at her shoulders and another at her lower back. She glanced at where she’d tripped to see ice coating the ground. Then she turned her attention to person who’d caught her. They gently pushed her back to her feet and she turned quickly to face them.

 

“Thank you so much. I didn’t even see the ice.”

 

She looked at the person who had caught her, a boy in a white mask. It was simple, soft white with ribbons that tied it back around his head. It covered the top half of his face for the most part, so all she could note about him was his striking blue eyes, half-smile, and a mop of wavy dark hair on his head. 

 

Her eyes zeroed in on the half smile for a split second before he opened his mouth to speak. It looked familiar somehow, but she couldn’t really place it. She chalked it up to already having vodka in her system as he spoke. 

 

“No problem.”

 

She breathed in the cold air and watched as her hot breath came right back out.

 

“Why are you out here?" the boy asked. "It’s freezing.”

 

“I could ask you the same thing.”

 

“I have a coat. You barely have sleeves.” Suddenly, he was removing said coat to reveal a white dress shirt and black suspenders. The next thing she knew, he was offering to put it around her shoulders.

 

She hesitated before leaning into the coat. “Thanks. I guess I needed a few seconds to myself. So many people in there.”

 

Her new conversation partner was silent. She could feel the alcohol hitting hard in her system, fogging up her brain, but she ignored it and kept talking. 

 

“Do you ever feel alone, even when you’re surrounded by people?”

 

He seemed surprised that she had said this.  ** _Well no shit, Betty. Wouldn't you be surprised if some random person asked you that?_**

 

But when he answered, it was genuine. “For most of my life.”

 

“It’s a shitty feeling.”

 

He put his hands in his pockets and looked her in the eye. “I think it usually means that you’re surrounded by the wrong people.”

 

“Yeah. I think I am. My friends are in there, but they’re all caught up in themselves. Always have been.”

 

He eyed where her feet, where she had started tracing a B on the ice below them. _**Old habits die hard.**_

“That sounds rough.”

 

“They try. Sometimes." She sighed. **_Why are you still_** ** _talking?_** Her brain asked.  _ **Who the hell else are you gonna talk to?**_ The alcohol answered, and she continued.

"They just have so much going on for themselves. And our lives are so different. I grew up in a middle class household, casual family dinners. They all grew up in mansions, with parents who gave them whatever they wanted. College was just a pit stop before they inherited their parents money, companies, connections. Meanwhile, I’m six months out of school with a humanities degree, waitressing at Pop’s diner.”

 

 

“Everyone has their own path.” he said this like it was the easiest thing in the world to believe. 

 

“But lately I’m worried I took the wrong one. Have you ever felt that?”

 

“I’ve felt like there was a fork in the road, a moment where two options were offered up. But only one was taken. Who am I to say which one was wrong?” He gave her another half smile.  ** _Where have I seen that smile before?_**

 

“I think it must be wrong if you have no one you can call a real friend. Actually, I think I only ever had one real friend my whole life and I fucked it up." The alcohol coursing through her system hit a wall and she opened and closed her mouth twice before saying "God I’m sorry, I just spilled out all this word vomit to you. I must look so pathetic right now.”

 

“You’re not pathetic. If you really need to talk, I’m glad I could be here to listen.” He looked like he was weighing the pros and cons of saying what he said next, but after a few seconds he continued. “Besides, nothing in life is truly irreparable. You can stand in a million different moments and take a million different paths, but what you do now is a chance for a new path.”

 

“Maybe.”

 

She followed his eyes to the night sky above them, a mix of deep blue and black, with sprinkles of stars. She wasn't sure how long they stood there before a rush of warm air came from behind them. "Betty!" Cheryl's voice sounded loud from the doorway. "Get your drunk ass in here and dance with me!" The door slammed immediately, but Betty knew she'd be back soon if she wasn't followed.

 

The boy next to her cleared his throat. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

 

She smiled at him. “I hope your next fork in the road works out for you.”

 

He gave her one final half smile and looked away before he spoke again.

 

“I’m hoping that too.” He reached up towards the dark hair on top of his head, and his hand lingered for a second, like it lost where it was going, before falling back to his side. Then he was walking away. Betty still wasn't sure if she knew who he was, and she felt on the verge of figuring it out, like it was just in her grasp, when Cheryl's voice called her name again. 

 


	2. Moments

Betty woke up the next morning with a slight headache and a serious craving for coffee. Her hair was a mess from falling into bed the night before. Her phone told her it was 10:05 AM, December 24th. Christmas Eve.

 

Her phone also told her that she had a text chain from her friends.

 

> Cheryl: Coffee? 9:55 AM
> 
>  
> 
> Veronica: Milkshakes? 9:56 AM
> 
>  
> 
> Cheryl: Throw in fries and we can make this work. 9:58 AM

 

So even though it was her day off, Betty found herself walking out the door to Pop’s a half an hour later. Stepping out onto the porch, she saw fresh snow on the ground. Her boots made a satisfying crunching sound when she stepped in it. She was surprised her mom hadn’t made her get up and shovel this morning. Looking over at the driveway next door, she saw that someone had beaten her to that.

 

A boy in an old worn in beanie stood on the Andrews driveway with a shovel in hand.

 

As Betty walked to her car, she passed him. She’d spent so much time thinking about him over the last 24 hours and yet, it had been years since they’d spoken. At the last second, she stopped and turned around.

 

“Hey.”

 

He looked up, clearly surprised to hear her speak.

 

“Hey.”

 

She said the only thing that she could think of.

“How have you been?”

 

“Okay. You?” He lifted his hand and tugged on the corner of his beanie. _**Nervous. That same tell tale sign as he always used to do. He still does it.** _She felt a thought, or maybe a memory, trying to click into place in her mind but she didn’t have time to focus on it, because he was staring at her waiting for a response.

 

“I’m alright.”

 

She took a step towards him and her foot nudged a snow pile that had been moved from the driveway, causing a bit to shift and fall back into his cleared path.

 

“I’m sorry.” She was apologizing for the snow, but somehow she wanted him to know that wasn’t all she was sorry for.

 

All he said was “No worries.”

 

He shrugged it off and turned back to his shoveling. Betty took that as her cue to walk away.

 

* * * * *

 

A plate of fries was placed in the center of the table, hot and ready to be eaten. Betty sipped at the last of her coffee, listening to her friends as they told stories of the night before. Cheryl met a girl at the party, apparently named Toni, and they’d snuck off to have a quick make out session in the coat closet. Veronica had danced with three different guys, none of whom really sparked her interest. As usual, Josie was more concerned with her performance onstage than her social life off of it.

 

Everything was normal. But Betty felt different somehow. _**Alone, surrounded by people. It usually means that you’re surrounded by the wrong people.**_

 

“That girls uniform is so wrinkled.” She heard Cheryl commenting. Four years out of high school and we’re still tearing other people down.

 

“How was your night, B?” Veronica asked, breaking Betty from her thoughts.

 

She turned to smile at Veronica next to her, and glanced across the table at Cheryl. The redhead was eyeing the plate of fries, looking for the one she wanted. She looked up and spoke before Betty could.

 

“You should have seen Betty last night. She had this poor guy cornered on the patio. It was a pathetic.”

_**You’re not pathetic. If you really need to talk, I’m glad I could be here to listen.** _

 

The words tumbled out before she could stop herself. “Why are we friends?”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“The first day of freshman year, you came up to me. Do you remember that?”

 

“Yes.” Cheryl nodded, looking confused.

 

“Why?”

 

“I don’t know. I wanted to, I guess.” She shrugged, clearly not seeing this as a big deal, and stood up to head towards the bathroom. “I’ll be right back.” Josie exited the booth behind her, leaving Betty and Veronica alone.

 

“What’s the deal, B?" Veronica looked concerned. "Why are you asking about something that happened 8 years ago?”

 

“I’ve just been thinking a lot lately, about how things changed for me when we all became friends. But sometimes, I wonder if we’re even friends at all.”

 

Veronica sighed. “Betty, I know Cheryl can be a lot to handle. But no one is forcing you to stick around and deal with her.”

 

This hit Betty like a ton of bricks. _**No one is forcing you. No one has ever forced you to do anything.**_ For years, Veronica had been the closest thing to a real friend that she had. And she blamed that on everyone but herself.

 

“I’ll text you, V.” Betty stood up, leaving a few dollars on the table for her part of the meal, and walked out to her car.

 

She’d blamed Cheryl, for telling her to sit with them at lunch. She’d blamed timing, for Jughead coming in just a little bit too late to intervene. But at the end of the day, she was the one who had chosen her path that day. Nothing is irreparable, the boy had said the night before. She hoped that was true.

 

**_I hope you find what you’re looking for._** He’d reach up towards his head, like he meant to grab something, but there was nothing there. Nervous.

 

_**Nervous.**_ The realization washed over Betty like a sudden storm. How had it taken her this long to figure it out?

 

She looked at the clock on her dashboard. 12:02 PM. Glancing back to Pops, she knew what she had to do.

 

_**A fork in the road, a moment where two options were offered up.**_ Betty only hoped it wasn’t too late to take the right one.

 

* * * * *

 

She arrived home and glanced at the driveway next door. A motorcycle rested on the left side. She rubbed her hands together and walked with determination to the backyard. As she sat down on the swingset, she hoped to the universe that Jughead remembered their old signal. _**I’m on the swings, Jug. I need to talk.**_

 

Ten minutes later, she felt like an idiot. He wouldn’t be looking out the window. It had been years since she’d put out this signal. They were adults now. There was no way he remembered. The cold had turned her cheeks red and she was starting to consider other possible options when she heard a throat clear in front of her.

 

She jerked her head up to see Jughead Jones standing in front of her.

 

“Had to put my coat on.” He said, as if he could read her mind. It was a different coat, not his leather Serpent jacket this time. _**He looks nice.**_ She noted this, realizing how true it was. Then he sat down on the swing next to her, like it was the most normal thing he could possibly do.

 

“It was you.” She said, after a moment of silence. “Last night, it was you the whole time.”

 

“I thought you knew.” He said it jokingly, laced with awkwardness. “I’ve been helping you up when you fell for our entire lives.” 

 

“How do you not hate me?”

 

“Who says I don’t?”

 

_**Well shit.** _

 

“Kidding. I was mad. For a really long time. It was shitty what you did. I couldn’t be mad forever though. Forever is a long time.”

 

“And time has a way of changing things.” She said softly. “Fox and the Hound.”

 

He just nodded.

 

“You didn’t have to help me though. You don’t owe me anything. If anything, I owe you. I saw you last night, before we talked at the ball. You were out front, with your bike. It made me start thinking about the choices I’ve made. I owe you the biggest apology. I am so sorry, Jug.”

 

“It took me awhile, but I forgave you a long time ago.” He paused, looked up at the sky. “It was a lot harder to get over you though.”

 

“What?”

 

Eyes on the sky above, he continued. “Do you remember when we were kids and they spread that rumor around the school about us being in love with each other? And we came out here and you said we should just get our first kisses over with. Because it didn’t need to mean anything.”

 

She nodded and he finally looked at her.

 

“Well that was the same day that I realized I had kind of loved you for awhile. You were always talking with me about all the nerdy stuff I liked, even the stuff that you weren’t into, but you let me go on about it anyway because you knew I liked it. And you always had the best smile. Anytime you smiled I automatically smiled too. And the same thing happened when you cried."

He sighed at this, remembering.

"And you asked me if I wanted to just kiss, to get it over with, because it didn’t mean anything. And I realized it kind of did mean something to me. But I had already said yes. So we kissed and I kept my mouth shut.” 

 

“Wow.”

 

“Yeah.” He laughed and she saw his breath in the cold air. “Kept that to myself for a really long time.” 

 

“I want to say you should have told me but...” **_I don’t know what I would have done._**

 

“I almost did actually. One time.” He laughed at this. She could see him reliving the memory in his head. Like she had been so constantly these last 24 hours.

 

“When?” She prompted.

 

“I had this whole plan for it. I was going to wear my nicest shirt and bring you a homemade cupcake, like the ones we used to make when we were really little. I was going to bring it to school and give it to you at lunch and tell you how I felt about you.”

 

It hit her then. “On the first day of high school.”

 

“New year, new me.” He smiled sadly. 

 

“Jughead. You have to know, I thought about that day so many times. I’ve been thinking about it even more recently. It feels like this giant turning point in my life. It’s almost like that was my 13 Going on 30 moment, but I passed it up and ended up in this alternate universe instead and there’s nothing I can do to change it.” 

 

He shrugged like it was the easiest thing in the world.

“There’s always something you can do to change it. It’s never too late to become what you might have been.” 

 

“What about you? What did you become?” She had no way of knowing. Jughead stayed away from social media.

 

“I guess I’m a journalist now. Over in Greendale.”

 

_**That's awesome. But.**_ “Don’t you have responsibilities here?”

 

He looked at her, genuinely confused.

 

“The serpents?” she said it quietly, like it was a secret.

 

“I’m not a serpent. They just gave me protection, back when the kids at school got so mean.”

 

Her voice quieted even more, almost as if she wasn't speaking at all. “So mean.”

 

“You tried to stop them though.”

 

“What?” She was surprised. She didn't know what he was referring to.

 

“Sophomore year, when Cheryl tried to get all the girls to refuse me if I asked them to dance at Winter Formal.”

 

Betty remembered this clearly. Cheryl had thought this was the funniest idea ever. Betty had stood her ground and told her it wasn’t. That she needed to stop- have fun at the dance and not worry about what other people were doing. _**Meanness doesn’t go well with that dress. I can’t believe I said that.** _Betty had gone around and told all the other girls that the plan was off. But there was no sign that Jughead even knew it was going to happen in the first place.

 

“How do you know that?”

 

“Kevin overheard you. He said it was iconic. That’s when I knew you hadn’t really changed at all. You’d just gotten lost.”

 

Betty looked at the boy next to her, swaying back and forth in the cold night air. Just yesterday, she’d thought he was lost too. _**Turns out, this whole time, he had it together enough for the both of us.**_

 

“Is it too late for us? To be friends I mean?” She said it carefully, still afraid of the answer.

 

“Oh so you’re saying after all this time you’re still not in love with me?” His eyes sparkled and that half smile appeared. She took note of how it made her heart skip a beat. 

 

“If I was in love with you, would I do this?” She bumped sideways into him, hitting him on the arm. The same way she had all those years ago. 

 

“If I was in love with you, would I do this?” He leaned over and yanked on her swing to pull her closer to him before letting go.

 

She yelped as the swing swung sideways away from him. “Hey!” 

 

She stood up and he mirrored her, that smile on his face, the one that was starting to mess with her mind. 

 

She stepped towards him and poked him in the chest. 

 

Jughead raised his eyebrows.

“You know, girls usually pick on boys when they like them.” 

 

She shook her head. “It’s the other way around.”

 

“So what then?" he taunted. "Girls are just kind and honest about it?”

 

“Maybe they should be.” _**We could all use a little more honesty.**_

 

She let the words tumble out. _**What do I have to lose?**_

“Jughead. I want to kiss you but I want it to mean something.”

 

There was a millisecond where he didn't react. It terrified her. But then he took a step towards her. She copied his movement, and suddenly, his hand was resting lightly on her cheek. That smile of his bigger than ever as he answered. “About damn time.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was meant to be a one shot, but I got too into it, so it's a two parter. An entry in Reindeer Games, for "Prancer"- balls/galas... The second part will be up in the next couple of days :)


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